The question of national identity has resurfaced like a specter, becoming increasingly concerning in an era of rising global conservatism. In the artistic developments of Vietnam during the second half of the 20th century, the critical discourse of de-westernization and de-sinicization had to grapple with this enduring question of national identity. This issue is intricately linked to understanding the dynamics of modernization and its dilemmas within the historical context of the 20th century, both locally and regionally. This public conversation “Beyond the Colonial Echoes” with young researcher Ngô Thanh, curator Su Wei, and professor You Mi will explore several historical clues in art from the latter half of the 20th century to the present. It examines the role of art in shaping national identity within the frameworks of socialism and post-socialism, as well as the evolution of critical discourse and paradigms in this context.
The conversation “Beyond the Colonical Echoes” and the private workshop of the same name that took place in the two days before were part of a project of rediscover and re-evaluate history “"Watch on a Promontory: Artistic Internal and External Exchanges in East, Southeast, and South Asia in the 1950s-1980s” initiated by Su Wei, an independent curator and art history researcher, and You Mi, a professor at the University of Kassel in Germany, with the full range of support of the Goethe-Institut (China), and in cooperation with the Goethe-Institutes of Calcutta, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kyoto, Manila, Mumbai, and Seoul (in alphabetic order). The documenta Institut, as the other supporting institution of this project, will also support next year's symposium and publication.
Through a series of workshops and talks, this project aims to deepen and potentially redefine our comprehension of art's role in shaping dialogues between the local and global within these regions.
NGO THI THANH lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam. She graduated from Hanoi University of Education in 2008 before getting a certification of Film studies for a one-year course funded by Ford Foundation. Her first short film was launched in 2009 as part of Hanoi DOCLAB film-making course. She devotes herself to writing and speaking of literature, art and cinema. Her activities include critical writing, teaching, curating and independent film-making. The main subjects consistently coming to her are equality, aesthetics and politics. She is studying for the Master in Critical and Curatorial Studies of Contemporary Art (CCSCA) in Taipei National University of Education, Taiwan. Her thesis focuses on framing the alternative narratives of Vietnam in Art and Visual Culture with decolonial perspective.
MI YOU is a professor of Art and Economies at the University of Kassel / documenta Institut. Prior to joining the University of Kassel, she was a research associate in the Art and Media Studies department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (2014-2021). Her academic interests are in new and historical materialism, performance philosophy, as well as the history, political theory and philosophy of Eurasia.
She works with the Silk Road as a figuration for re-imagining networks, and has curated exhibitions and programs at Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea, Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Mongolia (2016), Zarya CCA, Vladivostok (2018), and the research/curatorial platform “Unmapping Eurasia” (2018-) with Binna Choi. Her recent exhibitions focus on socializing technologies and “actionable speculations”, such as “Sci-(no)-Fi” at the Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne (2019) and “Lonely Vectors” at Singapore Art Museum (2022). She was one of the curators of the 13th Shanghai Biennale (2020-2021). On the social front, she serves as chair of committee on Media Arts and Technology for the transnational NGO Common Action Forum. You Mi co-initiates the “Watch on a Promontory: Artistic Internal and External Exchanges in East, Southeast, and South Asia in the 1950s-1980s” project.
SU WEI (born in Beijing) is an art writer, art history researcher and curator based in Beijing. In 2014, he was awarded first place at the first International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC). He worked as the Senior Curator of Beijing Inside-Out Museum between 2017 and 2020 and research fellow at Tsinghua University Art Museum 2021-2024. Su Wei's work in recent years focuses on re-constructing the narrative—and radical imagination—of contemporary Chinese art history and explores the roots of the legitimacy and rupture of contemporary Chinese art history in a global context. He has published articles in international art journals, including e-flux journal, YISHU: Journal of Chinese Contemporary Art, Journal of Contemporary Art and Kunstforum. His exhibition projects include: The 12th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, "Accidental Message: Art is Not a System, Not a World" (OCT Contemporary Art Center, Shenzhen, 2012), "No Reference: Hong Kong's Video and media Art Practices since 1986" (Hong Kong Videotage, 2016), "Community of Feeling: Emotional Patterns in Art in Post-1949 China" (Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, 2019), etc.
